Suchergebnisse

This article discusses the role of neighbors in the personal networks of people living in the Netherlands. It aims to establish the conditions for the inclusion of neighbors in such a network. Three complementary theoretical perspectives for developing hypotheses are employed: meeting opportunities, sharing groups, and social capital. Arguments are tested using nationally representative data ( N = 902) and multilevel regression models. The results show that all three perspectives contribute to explain the number of neighbor relations in personal networks, although none of the theoretical perspectives is fully confirmed. Interestingly, local facilities such as primary schools and day care facilities, which draw their members not only from the neighborhood but also from a larger local area, influence the likelihood of including neighbors in personal networks: primary schools encourage these relations, while the existence of day care facilities discourages neighboring.

This paper addresses the question "To what extent can job satisfaction be explained as the revenue of social capital?" By conceiving someone's social network as social capital we specify conditions under which social ties do lead to job satisfaction. We inquire into the idea of goal specificity of social capital, which implies that a network with a given structure and content will have different impacts on various aspects of job satisfaction. If the content of the ties and the structure of the network at the job engender material well-being or produce social approval, satisfaction with the corresponding job aspects increases. Data were collected in 1993 using written questionnaires in two Dutch governmental agencies, one with 32 and the other with 44 employees. These workers' networks were charted using nine name-generating questions. Social capital, it turns out, is not an all-purpose good but one that is goal specific, even within a single domain of life such as work. Three effects stand out: First, the structure of the network and the content of the ties do matter. Networks of strategic, work-related ties promote an employee's satisfaction with instrumental aspects of the job, like income, security, and career opportunities. Second, closed networks of identity-based solidarity ties improve an employee's satisfaction with social aspects of the job, like the general social climate at work and cooperation with management and colleagues. Third, a network with a bow–tie structure (i.e., where a focal actor is the link between two or more mutually exclusive cliques) generally has strong negative effects on satisfaction with the social side of the job; although a bow–tie type network of trusting ties does increase satisfaction with the social side. This implies that Krackhardt's hypothesis on the unpleasant feelings produced by bow–tie type networks has to be specified for the content of the ties that constitute such a network. The most important conclusion of our analysis is that goal specificity of social capital ...

Es wird der Versuch unternommen, die Figurationssoziologie, die ihren Ursprung bei Norbert Elias hat, im Sinne der Methodologie wissenschaftlicher Forschungsprogramme zu rekonstruieren und zu beurteilen. Es wird eine Bilanz gezogen im Hinblick auf die Fortschritte, die innerhalb dieses Programms im Vergleich mit anderen Programmen und im Vergleich mit früheren Fassungen desselben Programms zu konstatieren sind. Es wird der empirische Bezug dieses Forschungsprogramms betont, wobei das Gebiet der historisierenden Forschung bislang die größten Erfolge aufweist. Die Figurationssoziologie überschreitet bei der Suche nach Lösungen für empirisch-theoretische Probleme Fachgrenzen, wodurch unbefangene Kritik möglich wird. Die Figurationssoziologie fordert Aufmerksamkeit für viele Arten komplexer Bedingungen, unter denen Menschen handeln. Dies enthält eine implizite Kritik an naiven Anwendungen allgemeiner Handlungstheorien. Die Frage, ob das Verhalten von Menschen durch die Figurationen, in denen sie sich befinden, bestimmt wird oder ob Menschen diese Figurationen manipulieren, ist nicht richtig gestellt. Figurationen geben gleichzeitig Möglichkeiten zum Handeln vor, wie sie den Handlungen Grenzen setzen. Es wird betont, daß der Fortschritt im figurativen Forschungsprogramm, gemessen an methodologischen Kriterien, nicht besonders groß gewesen ist. Verbesserungen sind durch theoretische Zusatzannahmen möglich, die jedoch die Kernaussagen des Programms unangetastet lassen sollten. (GB)

Concentrating on ways of describing and measuring organizational networks as a form of social capital, and how it is affected by changes in public-sector procedures, this article advocates a particular approach to the evaluation of public-sector reforms. The authors report on an empirical investigation conducted in the Netherlands, in which they monitored relationships between social capital and government reforms and used network methodology. Social networks—the 'social capital' of the organization— greatly contribute to the productivity of individual employees as well as organizations. It is argued that well-intentioned reorganizations or reforms may well turn formerly existing social capital into 'sour' capital, and lead to a consequent deterioration in efficiency, effectiveness and customer satisfaction.